We continued our quest to plow through some of the Loire Valley's most famous castles Thursday, starting at the fairytale palace of Chénencaux. This was the home of Henri II's favorite mistress, Diane de Poitier, but was taken away from her by Henri's wife Catherine after his death. Despite some scandal in its past, the castle is absolutely gorgeous. It's built on top of a river, which I think is so cool! The French Resistance used the castle to carry information and people out of occupied France into the free zone during World War II.
The gardens around the castle were so beautiful! I love the castles that have beautiful flowers. J I think it makes them even lovelier.
One of my favorite parts of the castle was the ballroom! Or gallery…but I think they said in the brochure that it was used for balls sometimes. It's the section on the ground floor than spans the river, so you can look out the windows and see water right in front of you on both sides! Too bad there was no one to dance with. L The room was pretty empty when I went in. Even though it would be totally American-tourist to start dancing in a historical monument, I totally would have done it! I want a ballroom when I grow up. Lol. I think I'm just dancing-deprived, probably.
Another cool part of this castle was that they had the kitchens open! In most castles you don't really see the behind-the-scenes stuff. Just the king's bedroom and the council rooms and ballrooms and stuff. These kitchens were so big! I'd love to have a kitchen that big. Maybe. Lol. Actually, it's probably a little too big for me, now that I think about it. They had a room for preparing the dishes, a room for cooking the dishes, a room for washing, a room for the servants to eat, a room for storing everything. And each could fit at least 10 busy cooks!
And I always love the beds…. I don't know what it is about a four poster bed with cool curtains, but I'm just fascinated with them! This castle had a couple really cool ones, too. (Although I think my favorite bed was either at Versailles or at Chambord, which is coming soon!) There was one room that was completely black, which was really interesting. I guess some queen or noble woman lived at the castle after her husband died, and she painted the whole room black with white designs. She made the castle into a convent, actually. I liked the room because the bed and the walls matched so well. Lol.
The only disappointing part about this castle was that they were doing work on the façade, so the whole thing was covered! :P The covering had a picture of what the façade looks like, but still. It's not as cool to take pictures of a picture of a castle, especially when you're actually there! :P Oh, well. I guess that's what the return trip is for, right? ;)
Also, I totally found my dream house! Just in case anybody is interested. I found what I want my little French cottage to look like that I'm going to have when I'm old. J I just wanted to let you know, in case anybody reading this really should know about what my dream house is. The only thing it's missing is shutters, but those can easily be added. J This little cottage is part of the farm that sits just outside the castle grounds and is right next to a flower garden! J Me gusta!
The next castle we went to was Amboise, where Francois 1er lived. He's the king in Ever After! So, technically that whole movie would take place in this castle, because this is where Leonardo Da Vinci was invited to live, and actually where he's buried. But in the movie, they totally use a different castle. It doesn't look anything like Amboise. Sad day.
The other sad thing about this castle is that most of it was destroyed because some architect didn't think it was stable…or something like that. L So there's only a small portion left. It's definitely a cool portion, though. On the back side of the castle was a huge circular porch where you could look out over the river and the rest of the city. Also, there was this huge ramp at one end of the castle so you could ride a horse all the way to the top of the tower! How cool is that? I want to ride a horse to the top of a castle. Lol.
The chapel that held Leonardo Da Vinci's grave was cool. The architecture was really pretty. And seeing his grave! It was so weird to think that one of the greatest minds in history was buried right there. From the wall you could see the house he lived in while he was in France. That was also pretty cool. I wish I could have gone to it, but there definitely wasn't enough time.
We ended the day's journey in Blois, where we ate dinner at a café right next to the Blois castle. The dinner was okay. Lol. I swear, I've had more fries in the month and a half I've been in France than I have in three months at home. Gross! :P Although, they definitely don't put as much salt on them here. Which is good, I guess. I'm so sick of fries, though! We also had chicken, which was okay. Nothing really special. The dessert was good, though. Lava cake. Yum! But I feel like that's kind of American too, because my mom's made it several times. Nothing really French that meal. Lol. Paris liked it, though. J And I had fun, because we sat at a table with all girls and we had the girliest conversation ever. J And that's always enjoyable. Girly talks are essential, whether you're single, dating, engaged, or married.
And we stayed at an Etap!!! YAY!!!! And this Etap had the shower and toilet together! *sigh* It was amazing. I loved it. J After dinner we watched Ever After with Beth, which was really fun. J I'd wanted to watch that movie the whole time I was in France. Well, at least after going to the Louvre. And then I really wanted to watch it after visiting Amboise. And we did! J That movie's awesome. I might make Jeff watch it with me when I get home. Even though I'll probably talk his ear off the entire time. Lol. Oops. J Apologies in advance….
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